Play with Me?
by koalababay
Summary: Marlene has a wish to spend a whole day with two people. Who will she choose? Why Tifa and Reno of course! What mayhem will they get into when Tifa and Reno appear to be slightly different than they were before? ReTi for The Sacred and Profane!


**A/N: **This is for The Sacred and Profane!!! =)

_**Play with me?**_

"I'm sorry, but I can't right now."

"I just don't have the time, kid. Maybe later…"

"Hey, pipsqueak. Go play with Denzel instead. He's more fun anyway, right?"

"Honey, I'm really busy with all this stuff, kay? Catch me sometime when I don't have all these things to do and I promise we can do whatever you want!"

Marlene sighed for what felt like the millionth time. All she truly wanted was someone to spend time with, someone to play with, someone to _talk _to. But everyone was always so busy. Even _Denzel _was filling up his schedule these days, training with Cloud on his new sword, and going on tons of deliveries with the ex-Soldier.

She kicked a random pebble as she continued on her path to the one place that she _knew _would have a friendly face and a listening ear ready and willing to comfort her, regardless of the situation.

The Church in the slums. Where Aeris sometimes showed her spirit's presence to Marlene.

But no one knew about that except for her. It was their little secret. As of late, though, Marlene hadn't had the chance to go to the Church to see her because it was such a long trip from Edge to the Midgar ruins.

She sighed, silently praying that the gods would finally choose to grant her one lucky thing in her extremely _unlucky _week: the chance to talk to Aeris again. She crossed her fingers as she skipped along the path to her destination.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O

Marlene carefully cracked open the large doors to the Church. When she took a step inside, she noticed that it looked the same as it always did: peaceful and beautiful. She exhaled a sigh of relief. That had to be a good sign, right? She thought so because she confidently strode to the center of the Church, where Aeris' flowerbed still flourished in all its beauty.

She took a seat near the edge of the flowerbed. "Hi, Aeris. It's me! Marlene!" She smiled. "Are you here?" She looked around tentatively, waiting to see the specter appear. "I really want to see you again."

No one appeared after she patiently waited there for over ten minutes. Tears formed in her eyes. "Darn. There's one more thing to add to the long list of people that won't spend time with me anymore…"

"_Please, don't cry."_

Marlene blinked away her tears, looking around in confusion. "Aeris? Is that really you?" She stood up, brushing the dirt off her dress. "Where are you? I can't see you anywhere."

"_I can no longer be seen, Marlene. It is the way it has to be."_

Marlene's smile faded. "Oh. I understand." She turned away from the flowerbed dejectedly. "I guess I'll leave, then."

"_Please, wait!"_

Marlene stopped dead in her tracks. "What is it, Aeris? Is something wrong?"

"_Nothing is wrong, silly." _Marlene could her the laughter in the flowergirl's voice. _"I just wanted to tell you something important."_

"Okay, you can tell me!" Marlene was starting to become very excited.

Aeris' laughter filled the Church like pleasant wind chimes in the springtime. _"I have noticed that you have been spending a lot of time alone lately. It makes me sad to see that."_

Marlene's head drooped slightly. "Yeah…well, everyone's been really busy, so I can't blame them. Right?"

"_Yes, but you deserve attention as well, Marlene. Especially considering how helpful and how kind you always are to everyone around you."_

Marlene folded her hands together embarrassedly. "Oh, I'm not that much of a help. I get in the way most of the time." She sighed. "And Tifa hasn't been needing that much help lately anyway…"

"_Oh, right. I remember now. She and Reno have-"_

"You know about them secretly having feeling for each other!?" Marlene squeaked. "They haven't done anything about it, yet. And no one knows about it. _They _don't even know that I know!"

Aeris' laughter could be heard again. _"Well, then let's keep it that way. Alright?"_

Marlene nodded with a shy smile on her face. "Okay. But what were you going to say, Aeris? I'm sorry I interrupted you."

"_It's no problem. I was going to say that I can make it so you can have one full day with two people that you wish to spend time with the most. There will be no chores to be done, no worries, and most importantly, no interruptions. The only down side is that the next day, the two people you choose will not remember any of what happened."_

Marlene's brow quirked up a fraction of an inch. "Hmm. I think I understand." She tapped her foot in thought. "And I think I'll do it anyway, even though they won't remember it the next day…"

"_Who is it you wish to spend time with?"_

A smile lit up Marlene's face. "Well, Tifa for sure! That's an easy one!"

"_And the second person?"_

"Umm…" Marlene hesitated, messing with the hem of her dress. "You know, I think I'm going to pick Reno. He's always so much fun when he's not on Turk business." Her eyes widened suddenly. "Oh, and maybe after that, they'll be ready to confess their feeling for each other after spending a _whole _day together!"

"_You will be there as well, Marlene. Don't forget about that, silly."_

Marlene laughed. "Yeah, I know. Thank you so much for this, Aeris. I really appreciate you doing this for me!"

"_It was my pleasure, Marlene. I always like helping my friends when they need it."_

Suddenly, the world around Marlene started to become a blur. It was all fading away from her and she could do nothing to control it. "What's…what's going on!?" she managed to stammer out through her severe case of vertigo. She felt like her head was spinning around in a million directions.

"_Just a little preparation for your wish." _Aeris laughed again. _"Be sure to have a lot of fun for me, Marlene! Alright?"_

O-o-O-o-O-o-O

Marlene blinked open her eyes to discover that she was at the Edge park in the central part of the city. There weren't any kids on the playground equipment at all, even though it was a perfect day outside. That confused her a little bit. Usually the park was jam-packed with kids all day, everyday, no matter what the weather conditions were. She never wanted to play there because of it.

"Marlene, _Marlene_!!"

"Hurry up and get over here, will ya!? We've been waiting forever!"

Marlene turned her head to find out where the high-pitched voices were coming from. She was greeted with an energetic-looking little girl running over to her, holding a little boy's hand as she dragged him along with her.

The little girl had long black hair, doe-like burgundy eyes, and a huge toothy grin that could light up a whole room. The boy next to her had spiky bright red hair, turquoise eyes, and what seemed like a chronic smirk upon his facial expression.

Marlene blinked when they finally reached where she was standing alone. They looked…so familiar. But they couldn't be…_them_…could they? She couldn't be sure.

But she decided to take a chance and ask anyway. "Um…Tifa? Reno?"

They looked at her with amused expressions on their faces, trying hard not to laugh. "Yeah? You remembered our names, genius. Big whoop," Reno said, crossing his arms.

Tifa poked him on his chest, looking insulted. "Be nice, Reno. You're always such a big bully to everyone."

"I'm not a bully to _you_," he pointed out with a small smile.

Tifa laughed. "Yeah, I guess. But you should still try harder! No one will be your friend if you don't!" She crossed her arms. "You're just lucky you gots me and Marlene as your friends."

Reno sighed. "Yeah. Whatever, Teef."

Tifa rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Marlene. "So what do you wanna do? It looks like we got the _whole _park to ourselves, Mar-Mar!"

Realization dawned on Marlene. This whole entire thing must be Aeris' doing. She had promised that she could have a whole day with Reno and Tifa _without_ any distractions. She just must've forgotten to mention the part where Tifa and Reno were reduced to be the same age as Marlene. But that was fine with her. If anything, it made it even better!

Marlene smiled excitedly. "Yeah! Let's go on the swings!"

They all bolted over to the swings, where Reno took turns pushing each of them really as high as he could before running under them, performing the infamous _Underdog _tactic. Marlene and Tifa both squealed in fear each time he did it.

"Be careful, stupid!" Tifa shouted uneasily.

She had been more scared than Marlene was because they were both worried that they would accidentally kick his head on their backwards descent, but it never happened. They were grateful. After they were finished on the swings, Reno was wearing a smug look on his face. He must've been incredibly proud of himself for mastering the _Underdog._

"You're such a silly goose, Reno!" Tifa laughed, pushing him to the side slightly as they made their way over to the merry-go-round.

"Goose?" Reno cocked a brow. "I'm not a goose. If I'm an animal, then I'll be a lion! Or a bear! Or a-"

"Okay, we get the idea!" Marlene laughed before hopping onto the merry-go-round. "Hey, Reno. Do you mind being the master spinner of this ride?" She laughed again.

"Well, since I'm so awesome, I guess I'm the only one that _can _be the master spinner, Marlene." He glanced at Tifa. "Right?" Neither of the girls responded, which seemed to drive him a little crazy. "Just get on the ride, Teef!" he grumbled impatiently.

Tifa laughed, hopping onto the merry-go-round and grabbing onto one of the bars by Marlene. "Reno's a really good spinner, Marlene. You better hold on real tight!!"

Marlene nodded happily. "Okay, I will!"

Reno started to run, holding onto one of the bars near Tifa as he did so. It started to spin slowly at first, but after a few moments, Reno had gained momentum, and they were spinning so fast that _he _could barely keep up with the speed. That was when he hopped onto it as well, right between Marlene and Tifa, who were screaming excitedly as they spun like a rocket.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Reno gloated once they had slowed to a stop.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "You're such a show-off, Reno. You should try being more modest for once." They all hopped off. Marlene caught up to Reno and Tifa's pace, leaning over slightly so she could whisper into his ear, "Then maybe Tifa will like you even _more_."

She didn't get any verbal reaction from him, but she knew he heard what she said because from his side profile, she noticed that his ears had turned a dark shade of red. She covered her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle. It didn't help at all.

And Tifa noticed. She leaned forward as they continued to walk through the sandy part of the playground, kicking it with each stride. "What's so funny, Marlene?" Tifa started to laugh a little after hearing it. She couldn't help it because Marlene had been known to have a very contagious laugh.

"Oh, nothing. Reno's just silly, that's all," Marlene laughed.

Tifa nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! He sure is!" She poked him again, resulting in an indignant _"Hey!" _from Reno.

Suddenly they heard a very familiar ringing noise. All three of them stopped, glancing at each other before shouting, "THE ICE-CREAM MAN!"

They ran towards the street, but the ice-cream truck drove right on by them without stopping. Tears filled Tifa's eyes. "I r-really wanted ice-cream."

Noticing how distraught Tifa was becoming, Reno's jaw clenched in determination. He picked up a few nearby rocks before tossing them at the back of the truck, shouting, "WAIT! WE WANTED ICE-CREAM, STUPID!"

That did the trick because only a moment later, the truck screeched to a halt, and the back-side window popped open. A friendly-looking man poked his head out, gazing around in confusion. "Did somebody shout for me to wait?"

Tifa wiped the tears from her eyes, a brilliant smile on her face. "Yeah, that was us!" The three kids bolted over to the ice-cream man, who smiled kindly down at them. "We would like some ice-cream, please," Tifa said politely.

"Well, you three are in luck, today. There's an oversupply of ice-cream in this truck, so for the next few hours, I'll be giving it out for free!" he explained. Ecstatic smiles flashed on the three kids' faces, and the ice-cream man laughed in response. "So what can I get you three?"

"A bubblegum ice-cream cone, please," Marlene said.

Tifa smiled. "Cookie dough shake for me, please."

"Gimme a chocolate brownie-batter ice-cream cone," Reno said.

"What's the magic word?" the ice-cream man said in a sing-song voice after he handed Marlene and Tifa their ice-cream. Reno muttered something, but the ice-cream man cupped a hand to his ear, saying, "What? I couldn't quite hear that, young man."

Tifa and Marlene laughed into their ice-cream at seeing the annoyed expression on Reno's face.

"I said _please,_" Reno stated, tapping his foot on the ground rapidly. "Can I _please _have it?"

The ice-cream man laughed good-naturedly before handing out what Reno asked for. "Here you are, young man. Enjoy the rest of this beautiful day, you three!" He closed the window, driving away from them a few minutes later.

The three kids walked back over to the park area and sat down on one of the park benches. "This is really good ice-cream!" Marlene commented between licks.

"Thab's bor thoor!!" Tifa said with her mouth full of ice-cream.

Reno noticed this and smirked at her. "Didn't you tell me not to talk with my mouth full, Ti-_fa?_"

Tifa swallowed the large portion that was in her mouth before sparing him a glance. "So what?"

Reno rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath.

Marlene laughed quietly to herself. Tifa and Reno's banter was a little odd - she definitely wasn't used to being around them when they were so _young _- but she was still having a wonderful time with them. She had always wanted to go to the park, but it was always to busy…plus, Tifa and everybody else never had to time to take her.

"What should we do now?" Marlene asked once she was finished with her snack. She hopped off the bench and looked at the other two with an expectant look on her face.

"I have an idea," Reno stated calmly.

Tifa looked shocked. "_You _have an idea? You never have ideas, Re-Re!"

Reno sighed, hopping off the bench to stand with next to the two girls. "Just follow me, kay?" He took off running in the opposite direction, looking back for a moment to shout at them to hurry up.

Marlene and Tifa glanced at each other for a moment before shrugging. They took off after him. After a few moments of what seemed like a wild goose chase, Reno led them to the base of a hill a little ways away from the park. He turned around with a smug look on his face. "Race ya to the top?"

Marlene took off first before the other two even noticed. They both shouted for her to stop, but she just kept right on running. She was having too much fun to care. When they finally caught up to her on the top, they didn't look too pleased.

"You cheated!" Tifa said, pointing an accusing finger at her.

Marlene laughed. "I wasn't racing. I just thought you two were," she calmly said.

Tifa's expression lightened. "Oh!" Then she turned to Reno. "Then I guess I beat ya, Reno!! Hah hah!"

Reno grumbled something under his breath before sitting down. "Tifa, Marlene. Take a seat, will ya?"

The girls took a seat on either side of him, staring at him in confusion. "Why did you bring us here?" Marlene asked.

Reno was still staring straight ahead when he nodded in that direction. "Just look. The sun is going away so the moon can finally come out!"

Both the girls gasped in excitement. The sky was a beautiful mixture of several different colors. There were purples, reds, oranges, yellows - Marlene's personal favorite - and blues. It was truly a magnificent sight.

"You're right!" Marlene said, a huge smile on her face. "This is so pretty!"

Tifa nodded her head in agreement. "Thank you so much for showing this to us, Reno! It's really cool!"

Reno just shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I'm just awesome, I guess."

The girls laughed, but they had to give him credit for this one. "Yes, you are!" they both shouted in unison.

Reno flinched at the level of their voices. "Ah! Not so loud! Geeez!" He covered his ears with his hands.

"What a wimp," Tifa remarked.

"Ah, he's alright," Marlene said in his defense. Reno's ears were still covered, so Marlene added, "And he really likes you, ya know!"

Tifa blushed. She opened her mouth to reply, but then Reno abruptly removed his hands from his ears. He gasped before standing up. "Oh, no! The sun's going down!"

Tifa and Marlene looked at each other in confusion. "Yeah? You were the one that showed it to us, Reno," Marlene said with a lace of confusion in her voice.

"What's wrong? Tell us!" Tifa pleaded.

Reno sighed. "It's dinnertime. I'm gonna be late…and my mom's gonna kill me."

Marlene stood up, a confident smile on her face. "Well, then let's get ya home! We can make it in time!" She turned to start walking down the hill, but her foot got caught in a random root sticking out. She tried to regain her balance, Reno even reached out to help her, but it was too late.

She fell forward _fast_, and went tumbling down the hill until the very bottom. When Marlene carefully opened her eyes, she saw Reno and Tifa running down to her with worried expressions on their faces. She sat up slowly, testing out her body to see if there was any lasting damage. She had a few aches and bumps here and there, but it wasn't that big of a deal. She'd had worse.

"Are you okay, Marls!?" Tifa gasped worriedly when they finally reached her.

"That was a pretty long fall," Reno commented. "It was kinda cool, actually."

Tifa poked him again to get him to be quiet. "It was _not _cool! She could've broke something! Like her arm!" She paused for a moment, deep in thought. "My dad broke that once, I think."

Marlene laughed from her position on the ground. "Guys, I'm fine! Thanks for worrying, though. I'm glad you care."

Tifa and Reno both smiled. "Of course we care about ya!" Tifa shouted.

"You're pretty fun to play at the park with," Reno added with a small smile.

"Thanks guys!" Marlene said in reply. She made a move to stand up, but her limbs suddenly froze. She couldn't move at all. She glanced up to ask Reno and Tifa for help, but she noticed that they were slowly fading away from her. "Wait, no!! I don't want the day to be over yet!!" She pleaded to the blackness that was slowly encompassing her. "Please…"

O-o-O-o-O-o-O

"Marlene!"

"Are you okay, kid?"

She felt someone shaking her, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She was having such a nice time at the park with a young Tifa and Reno. It was cruel that the day had to be over so soon.

"Is she even awake?" That sounded like Reno's voice to Marlene. But her heart dropped a little bit when she realized that his voice was older…more mature. It was the old Reno again.

"Hmm. I think she's starting to wake up right now actually." And that was Tifa's voice. She, too, was older again. Marlene was sad to come to that realization. She loved this Tifa and this Reno, but she had just had such a marvelous time with the younger versions of them.

Marlene opened her eyes to come face to face with Reno and Tifa. They were leaning over her with worried looks on their faces. She sat up slowly, looking around in confusion. "Wh-what happened?" she asked quietly. '_Was it all a dream?' _she added in her head.

Tifa smiled softly, brushing Marlene's bangs away from her eyes. "You fell off your bed while you were still asleep." Marlene finally realized that she was laying on the ground with her blanket tangled around her legs. Tifa and Reno were kneeling next to her.

"You must've hit the nightstand next you because the lamp fell off and shattered," Reno said, nodding towards the broken lamp nearby. "You didn't cut yourself, did you?" he asked with a trace of concern in his voice.

Marlene shook her head slowly. "No…I'm fine."

"Honey, are you okay? You seem sad," Tifa said with a worried look on her face. "I don't want you to go back to bed until I'm sure you're alright."

Marlene shook her head again and stood up with the blanket in her hands. "No, it's fine. You guys can go back to---wait a minute! What is Reno still doing here?" Marlene glanced at the clock. "It's three in the morning!"

Blush appeared on both Tifa and Reno's faces. "Uh…um…" Neither of them could respond to her question.

Marlene just laughed. "Don't worry about it, you guys. Your secret is safe with me."

Tifa looked relieved. "Thank you, Marlene." She tucked her into bed, planting a big kiss on Marlene's forehead in the process. "Goodnight. I love you, sweetheart."

Marlene pulled the blanket up to her chin. "I love you too, Tifa. Goodnight."

Reno and Tifa shared a look before they left Marlene's room, closing the door with a soft click. They made their way back to Tifa's room, but before they approached the bed, a thought came to Tifa's mind. "You know…I had a really weird dream before that loud noise woke us up, Reno."

Reno nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did too. We had ice-cream on a really nice day with Marlene."

Tifa's eyes widened. "At the park?"

Reno nodded. "And then we watched the sunset?"

They both looked at each other in confusion before stating in unison, "Weird."

They crawled into bed, and Reno wrapped his arms around Tifa, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. "I kinda want to go to the park now," he said in a low voice.

Tifa nodded into his chest. "Yeah, me too." She pulled the covers up a little bit higher. "Let's take Marlene there for the whole day tomorrow, okay?"

Reno grunted his approval, slowly drifting off to sleep. Tifa followed his example, taking a deep breath before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Somewhere, far in the depths of the lifestream, a flowergirl smiled mischievously to herself. "_My plan worked!"_

_**A/N: **R&R please and thank you!!! =D_


End file.
